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Chocolate varieties

This is my first year growing chocolate peppers. I have chocolate Naga vipers, chocolate apocalypse scorpions, and uncle Mike's chocolate delight. I made a hot sauce using the Nagas and the scorpions today and it had a bitter after taste. Is the bitterness from the peppers? I wasn't brave enough to eat one by itself so I'm not sure what they taste like. Thanks!
 
Can be.  After a good meal, eat the tail end off a Naga or Scorpion to find out for sure.  Keep a glass of whole milk handy to sip on if you're not used to hot/superhot stuff and need to kill the burn.  Chocolate varieties often have an earthy or even slightly metallic taste to some people.  Not everybody likes them.  I've never personally found the Naga or Scorpion varieties to be bitter, but taste will vary with the individual.  Fun fact, chocolate Naga Vipers have very little perceived heat, to me.  Other people rate them between upper level Fatalii and Bhut range on average, but I've never eaten one that felt as hot as even a habanero.  Whatever capsaicinoids are in those, I am apparently not very sensitive to them.
 
Slug said:
Can be.  After a good meal, eat the tail end off a Naga or Scorpion to find out for sure.  Keep a glass of whole milk handy to sip on if you're not used to hot/superhot stuff and need to kill the burn.  Chocolate varieties often have an earthy or even slightly metallic taste to some people.  Not everybody likes them.  I've never personally found the Naga or Scorpion varieties to be bitter, but taste will vary with the individual.  Fun fact, chocolate Naga Vipers have very little perceived heat, to me.  Other people rate them between upper level Fatalii and Bhut range on average, but I've never eaten one that felt as hot as even a habanero.  Whatever capsaicinoids are in those, I am apparently not very sensitive to them.
Thanks! I'll try one on its own and see how I like it.
 
Fwiw, every chocolate pod I've ever eaten or cooked with has tasted quite bitter to me, with an unpleasant and chemical-y aftertaste. Of course, that's just my take on them; a lot of folks think they taste delicious. Another interesting quality: a lot of folks, myself included, tend to perceive the Choco pods as being hotter than their red counterparts, when the testing most often suggests otherwise.

I continue to grow them because they look bitchin', I can share them with folks who enjoy the flavor, and I've heard that they taste entirely different once dried and pulverized. So, once I get a few ripe ones, I'll give them another shot in powder form.

Even if that little experiment fails, I already have Choco/brown seeds on deck for 2019. They really do look cool...
 
Yeah I really enjoy the looks of them too! I was hoping they tasted good, but I think I'm one of the ones who can't stand them lol. I'll let my sauce age awhile and give it another shot. I also plan on dehydrating some and making powder. Hopefully I can find some good use for them!
 
Well I took a bite of one of the chocolate naga vipers. I think that's definitely where the offensive taste is coming from. I don't like the flavor at all. Hopefully dehydrating them will make them edible. If not, I know what I'm giving away as gifts lol
 
+1! Although the one I have is one of the most prolific superhots I have!
wrinklenuts said:
I totally think chocolate peppers are hotter and they totally destroy me more than other peppers. More earthy too
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/\ +1
 
Narrow minded as I am, I have no interest in growing choc. superhots.  I just do not enjoy the taste and, yes, for me they are very bitter.  I tend to find that the hotter the variety the more likely it will be bitter as well.  Lesser heat hot peppers are bitter, if at all, just in the placenta.  Perhaps my experience would be different if eating them in pepper form. 
 
This is just my personal perception. And, if I have learned nothing else in the past six years of growing hot peppers it is that personal taste varies widely!
 
I have to try them next year just because i havent. Well, with the exception of Aji Panca which is much milder and i havent sampled my first pod yet. Damn things are taking forever to ripen. :D
 
Scotch Bonnet chocolate for sure and probably Naglah Brown for the super.
 
I tried my sauce again today and the flavor is much better. The bitterness is still there but it's not overpowering like it was yesterday. It may be because the sauce is actually cold now, I don't know. Still not my favorite sauce but it's usable
 
Here's what it looks like. I'm pretty happy with the color.
 

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I think the Chocolate pods can look awesome, but I haven't been impressed yet with the taste of any.  I've grown only Chocolate Habs and Bhuts though, which were ok fresh, but nothing to get excited about.  When I powdered a bunch of the Choc Habs and I thought it was too harsh and overwhelming for many uses, but some people i knew loved it.
 
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
I have to try them next year just because i havent. Well, with the exception of Aji Panca which is much milder and i havent sampled my first pod yet. Damn things are taking forever to ripen.
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This is bad news.  It's my first year growing Aji Panca and the plants look great, but were by far the slowest to flower.  I have pods starting to form now, but if they take forever to ripen that doesn't bode well given my growing season.
 
Yeah I have a chocolate habanero hot sauce that I bought online. It tastes ok, but nothing to write home about. This is my first year growing anything besides regular ghost peppers, so it's been a learning experience. I did find that I really love the flavor of lemon drops!
 
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